Ghoraiybah

25

1

Recipe by: ladyheather06

"A simple traditional Arabic recipe for cookies similar to shortbread. The wonderful flavor comes from the cardamom, which is fairly expensive, but very worth it. I actually prefer them without the almonds, but you might add them if you like."

Directions

Prep

15 m

Cook

20 m

Ready In

35 m

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in flour and cardamom until well blended. Pinch off tablespoonfuls of dough, and roll into a thin rope. Join the ends together in a circle, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Place almond halves on the joints where the circles come together.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The cookies should remain white, but may turn golden at the very edge.

All done! Now take a photo, rate it, and share your accomplishments!

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Reviews 25

30 Ratings

KELLIMELLI

12/3/2004

Being big fans of cardamom, we knew we had to try these...with a couple alterations. Double the cardamom -- trust us, it's the thing to do. And we used whole almonds, not for any culinary reason...just because we're lazy. We found that chilling the cookies before baking them helped them retain their shape better than just tossing them in the oven. And speaking of the oven -- the first batch just came out. Five stars, two thumbs up, ten out of ten...pick your rating system. We can't do it for you -- gotta go have another cookie.

m0wlp42

7/8/2008

This isn't a recipe that will appeal to all taste buds because the cookies are more flavored than sweet, but we sure like them. As the other reviewers have mentioned, I do think the cookies benefit from a little vanilla extract, brown sugar and salt, but the cardamom is key. If you're using the packaged variety, you'll probably want to triple the amount, but using the actual cardamom pods makes a huge difference and really gives these cookies their flavor. I'm the first to admit you can't buy the pods everywhere (and if you do, they are on the pricey side), but if you have them, use them! (To extract cardamom: lightly brown pods in a pan over high heat - but don't overdo them! - remove cardamom seed from shells and crush using a mortar and pestle. For the leftover pods, I occasionally add them to my tea like the Lebanese do.) Also, this is one of few cookie recipes that turns out better using the old fashioned bowl & spatula method rather than the mixer. Finally, make sure your butter is softened (place in microwave for 25 seconds) to ensure a good dough.

TUNISIANSWIFE

1/18/2006

these are wonderful!!! You must try for something very different. I have had ghroubah in Tunisia and found them to be good but dry (I think they make theirs with semolina flour so they are a bit more gritty) and these were far better! Thanks to kellimelli for the suggestion of more cardomom...definitely a must do! I added a HEAPING teaspoon of cardomom. I used my cookie press to make them so pretty and omitted the almonds. So few ingredients make them perfect..but u will want to double the recipe. These are intended for a care package to my inlaws in Tunisia...I am sure they will impress coming from their American daughter-in-law! **Make sure your butter is at room temp....and keep beating and it will eventually come together to form a dough ball.